Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33
Kilo
W e ducked behind the SUVs once Camila made her move. She’d scrambled under one of the sicario’s vehicles and now that she was out of the way it was open season on these assholes once more. Kruzman was staggering back behind his line of men, rubbing at his eyes. My girl had tossed a bunch of dirt in his face. My smile was full of pride as I aimed my rifle and took down one of the bastards.
Our brothers had waited in the shadows, circling around to the sides so that they could take out any who tried to run off on us. We were corralling them in so it would be like shooting rats in a trap.
“Kilo!”
I looked over at Merc’s shout and saw that filthy fucking FBI agent dragging Camila away from the fight.
“Go get her,” Ruck ordered.
Leaving them to take out the rest of Kruzman’s men, I ran around the vehicles and after my target. The headlights lit up the area enough to see that Camila was fighting him, trying to keep from letting him drag her off. When he tossed her over his shoulder, then elbowed her, I growled and poured on more speed. Running through the sand in my boots was something I had years of experience with, but the FBI dick seemed to be struggling, especially with Camila’s dead weight. She was limp over his shoulder and seeing her unmoving made fury build inside me.
As soon as I saw him throw her to the ground earlier, I knew I was going to kill him. He’d touched what was mine. Tried to trade her life away. He was going to pay for that. I didn’t dare fire at him. I could hit Camila, so I dropped my rifle and tackled his legs from behind. I hoped Camila would forgive me for the way her body hit the ground, but I couldn’t focus on her right now.
He came up swinging, but I blocked the head shot with my arm. Returning the punch, I landed a body blow that had him grunting in pain. Kicking out, I swept his legs out from beneath him and followed him down. He seemed to be favoring his left arm, so I swung my fist there. As soon as I landed a punch to the left side of his chest he let out a cry of pain and started to fight like a wounded animal.
He managed to pin my leg and roll us in the dirt. “I’ll fucking kill her for this,” he snarled as we grappled for the dominant position.
This wasn’t Shawn. It was more like the fight with Dustin from before. This man was trained, just like me, and he knew how to fight. It wasn’t a clean sweep that I was going to win easily. But I had more I was fighting for. Camila was lying unconscious, sprawled out, nearby and I wasn’t going to let him get his hands on her again.
Blocking another blow with my left arm, I grabbed the Glock I had holstered at my back but he managed to knock it out of my hand before I could use it. The agent ended up on top, and he’d managed to grab his pistol. My arms made an x as I tried to keep him from pointing that fucking gun at my face. If he pointed it at me, this was all going to be over and Camila would be in danger again.
Our muscles strained as we fought for control of the gun. We were silent, other than harsh breathing, eyes locked, faces pulled back in grimaces while locked in this battle to the death. He had the upper hand, for now. But I wasn’t giving up and I was a stubborn bastard. Releasing my right arm, I held his gun away with one hand on his wrist and hit him in the side as hard as I could. The gun slipped closer to my head.
Planting my feet, I prepared to try to flip him, when a familiar voice started screaming.
“Get off him!”
I stared in amazement as Camila’s head appeared next to the agent’s. She’d jumped on his back and had her bound hands around his neck. There was blood all over her temple and face, but here she was riding this asshole around like a bucking bronco.
He shoved off of me, trying to pull her from his back. It gave me the opening I needed to rip the gun out of his hand, but with Camila directly behind him, I couldn’t use it. Dropping the gun, I pulled out the knife I’d taken off the sicario. This damn thing had just become my lucky weapon.
The FBI agent froze when my knife plunged into the side of his neck then yanked right back out. Shock spread over his face as he stopped reaching for Camila and grabbed the gushing wound.
Wanting to make sure he was dead, I stuck him again, this time through his hand into his throat, and twisted the blade. He dropped like a rock.
Reaching out, I grabbed Camila to steady her, cut the zip-ties from her hands, then pulled her into my arms. “You okay?” I asked, breathing heavily.
“Yes. Are you?” Her hands were roaming over me.
I grabbed them and pulled them up to my lips, kissing them before leaning down and kissing her. “I’m fine,” I said once I pulled away. “Sounds like it’s almost over.”
“How can you tell?”
“There’s only occasional shots now,” I explained. “They’re tracking down any of Kruzman’s men who tried to escape.”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as we walked back toward the vehicles. Drifter had been a field medic in the Army and I wanted him to take a look at Camila the first chance he got. I wasn’t worried about what we were walking back into. We’d outnumbered Kruzman and his men since we’d already killed a bunch of them before the FBI agent showed up with Camila. She’d been the only thing stopping us from killing them outright the minute they’d showed back up at the vehicles.
Still, I held my finger to my lips and had Camila wait by the outermost vehicle while I walked around. I wasn’t about to bring her into a dangerous situation. Grinning at what I saw, I motioned for her to join me again.
She crept around the side of the SUV and gasped when she saw Kruzman kneeling in the middle of the lights. Ruck and Hype had their guns trained on him. “It’s over?” she whispered.
“Almost,” I replied.
It was silent now. My brothers began materializing from the darkness like ghosts. Kruzman had brought these particular demons on by threatening what belonged to me. I didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for what was about to happen to him. That didn’t mean I wanted my girl watching it though.
“Drifter,” I called out. He walked over, eyes already zeroed in on the wound on Camila’s head. When the agent had elbowed her it had split open her skin and she was still bleeding. “Can you take care of her?”
“Yeah, I brought my bag with me.”
His bag was this magical fucking thing that seemed to have any necessary medical supply known to man inside.
“Can you do it away from here?” I muttered.
He grinned over at me. “Yeah. We’ll be back at the SUVs.” He led Camila away.
As much as I didn’t want to let her out of my sight, I knew she’d be safe. “Merc, Flir, go with them.”
Neither said a word, just fell in line behind Drifter, guns out and ready in case there were any sicarios left.
I stepped into the light.
Ruck glanced over. “She alright?”
“Yeah, Drifter’s looking her over.”
“Good.”
“We alright?” I asked.
“Some minor wounds,” Overdrive answered. “Nothing bad.”
“Anyone left?” I asked.
“Just him,” Ruck said, motioning with his weapon.
I met Ruck’s gaze. “I’d like to be the one to kill him.”
“I figured as much,” my president said with a dark smile. “We saved him for you.”
“Thanks, Prez,” I said, clasping hands with him in a firm shake. He knew from that move alone what I couldn’t say in that moment. That I owed them. They were my brothers. My family. And still, I owed them more than I could ever repay. Not for my life, but for the life of my old lady.
He jerked his head toward Kruzman. “Let’s get this done. Just in case, by some run of bad luck, someone has heard all this.”
I walked around to the front of Kruzman. He glared up at me, belligerent in the face of his own death. “You should have taken my offer,” I told him.
“I don’t take deals,” he said, spitting on the toe of my boot.
“And I don’t let fuckers live who mess with my family.”
“This had nothing to do with you,” he replied.
“Camila is mine ,” I growled. “So it had everything to do with me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll never stop coming for her.”
I chuckled, looking up at my brothers as we stood in a half circle around him. They were laughing along with me, knowing what was about to happen. “What the fuck makes you think you’re going to get out of this alive? You tried to kill my old lady. You’ll pay for that with your life.”
He shook his head. “I have money-”
“I thought you didn’t make deals?” Overdrive taunted.
“The time for deals is gone,” I told him. Even if he hadn’t promised to keep coming after her, I was never letting him live. He was always going to die here tonight. Holding up my gun—it hadn’t taken me long to find it near the agent’s body—I paused, enjoying the panic that flared to life in his eyes. He opened his mouth to beg and I pulled the trigger.
The bullet went right between his eyes and a frozen expression of shock and panic remained on his face. Now it was over.